Four Pillars: A peek at Generation M

Thanks to Pete Shaw who pointed me at this WSJ article while commenting on one of my recent posts on iTunes. It’s headlined Free, Legal and Ignored.

Just shows what happens when people think Free means Gratis and plan accordingly. There are probably people in Generation M who don’t know who Richard Stallman is.

But they do know what Free as in Freedom is. In a strange kind of way, they don’t even mind lock-ins. Provided it’s their choice. What they have been used to is lock-ins by stealth, and this they refuse point-blank. So they will buy iTunes for their iPod, and refuse tracks that won’t play on iPods. Because that’s the way they see it. This track won’t play on iPod. I have an iPod. I like my iPod. What good is that track to me?

As stated previously, I still hope and wish that Apple will do the right thing with FairPlay. But they seem to understand Generation M better than the competition, and will probably time the move right.